Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The Vampire Diaries: When People See Good, They Expect Good

Last Thursday on The Vampire Diaries, Damon got beat with a bat. Twice. And that was like #12 on the list of angsty things that happened. I love this show.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore shirtless on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

I couldn't help myself; I went Ctrl+shift+4 CRA-AZY this week. There was just too much awesome. Let's get started.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore shirtless on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

For Delena fans, pretty much the best thing EVER happened last week. And yeah - this whole post is going to be about that.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore shirtless on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore shirtless on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

It started with Damon coming out of the shower, shirtless and sexy. He puts on a shirt (boo...), looks out the window, pours himself a drink. The whole time, Elena is watching from her bed where she half-heartedly pretends to sleep. I loved this. Kudos, show. Because no matter how you slice it, Damon is sexy. We oogle him week in and week out. And plenty of the chicks on the show acknowledge how attractive he is. But Elena never really seems to notice. I appreciate that she finally openly admired the man-candy. How could one not while he's strutting around all half clothed?

Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

Then, he sees her seeing him. And he kind of goes 'huh.' Then she sends out telepathic signals that scream "GET IN MY BED NOW."

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

And he obliges.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

They've had a few very nice "in bed" moments before but this was the best. Elena was taken with the fact that Damon had helped Rose die peacefully (as she should be). And Damon tells her honestly, he doesn't want people to expect anything decent from him. Presumably because he doesn't want to be a disappointment. ANGST!

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

And the hand holding. This put me in full-squee mode before they even got out of bed. Pick Damon, Elena! Choose him. Love him.

Then they go out on to the balcony and Elena kiss-attacks him. It was great. That's the best sort of attack. Much better than being beaten by a baseball bat (for Damon, anway. For us, it's sort of six of one...)

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

They kiss...

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

And they kiss...

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

And they kiss...

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

And they kiss...

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

And then they pause...

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

And then they kiss some more. Sigh.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

Then they go off for a while and deal with the actual plot of this episode. The chick who sired Rose is dead, Kol is sexy-evil for a bit, and that's that. Damon is a wee bit wounded.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena

And so is Elena. Prompting his sexy man hand to sexily brush back her hair.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena on The Vampire Diaries Heart of Darkness Delena Kiss

Then Damon's question: "What are you doing, Elena?" He pretty much hits the nail on the head when he assumes she's waiting for him to screw things up. That's just what he do, yo. If you don't want people to expect good things from you, they won't. He's achieved what he wanted - everyone assumes he'll F up.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

But then the best line of the episode. "What if I didn't?" Yes. Precisely. What if he didn't? Then he's best. Then he wins. He's stronger, he's hotter, he's cleverer, he's all around BETTER than Stefan. Stefan has no personality between boring and mass-murderer. All Damon has to do is not be the guy who gets hated. I vote for that.

Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries Season 3 Heart of Darkness Delena

Vampire Diaries always knows the perfect ways to manipulate its audience. It's always got angst and sex and complicated dynamics and characters who care. I think the one thing the show typically falls a little short on is making Elena relatable. I don't usually understand why she makes the choices she makes. This particular episode brought her to us. She was us. She was the girl who couldn't help staring at Damon, couldn't keep her paws off him when she had the chance. I appreciate that. Obviously, I GET that. Basically, my only thought when this episode ended was, "More please!" I'm looking forward to this week. They've set the bar high.